Co.Senior H.Semi-Final

The hacks in the local papers will have to earn their crust this week. Itmust be fierce hard to write about Cratloe and Clonlara. Their’s is arivalry that has crept upon us. Five years back isn’t all that long ago,but for these neighbours, in hurling terms, it’s a different world. Onthis weekend in 2005, those that probably had nothing else on, werehuddled amongst a hundred or so on the bank in Meelick, to see who, of thetwo, would spill down to the quagmire of Intermediate hurling.

Since then all’s changed, changed utterly. For their Munster Championshipvoyages this year, Clonlara and Cratloe endowed four hurlers to the Clare’sMinors, Seven to the Under 21’s and Eight to the County Senior panel. Thepair have shared the last two County Championships - meeting each-otherin last Autumn’s decider - and when they were fattened and supposed tofade away quietly they’re back to joust for a run at the Canon again.Infact if Clonlara prevail this Sunday, they’ll have reached their thirdCounty final on the bounce.

This week in St. John’s , Cratloe’s schoolhouse , every sentence has tobe paused and checked for hurling inuendo. Jackie O Gorman is caretakerthere, while inside at the teacher’s desk in Fourth Class is Mike Sheedy,Clonlara selector. Behind enemy lines. If 2005 seemed low, Mike and Jackie’sclub hurling days were when being from Cratloe or Clon’ was a far smallercurrency in a hurling conversation than it is now. Infact a Seniorrelegation fight might well have been the stuff of dreams.

“Well I suppose we may not have won as much”, maintains Mike, “but itcertainly didn’t mean we loved the game any less. I thought it was nice tohear Cratloe’s captain Barry Duggan when he got the cup last year mentionall the names that pushed Cratloe up the steps. It would have been thevery same for us the year before. I suppose while winning the actual matchin the sixty minutes isn’t all that earth-shattering – it’s the amount oftime that people put in to get you there that’s huge. That was nice ofBarry. It was like he was representing the parish as much as the team andin Clon’ we had it too with the work done over at the school and likes ofMoffit, God rest him, hauling us off in the back of the van. You’d bethere yet if you started mentioning all the names”.

Blessed are those who tend the vine though they may not be there to tastethe wine.

Cratloe and Clonlara’s rise in stock has been as quick as it has beenimpressive. Both clubs knew they had coming teams but its unlikely thateither expected the road to be as short. In 2007 the strongholds in Clarekept an eye on Clonlara win their provincial Intermediate crown like you’dcoo in on a baby in a pram. Twelve months later they were trying to keep ahold of their coat-tails. There was barely a ‘bedding in’ period worthmentioning and while, rightly, there’s a perception that a CountyChampionship win has never been as open in Clare, both Clonlara andCratloe collide as two teams trying to get the most from the best vintagesthey’ve known.

“The turnaround for us, as well as yourselves I guess, happens when allthat work co-incides with a good group coming together at once. Therewould have been a trickle through from the 1999 Intermediate winning teamwith the like of Todsy (Tomás O Donovan), Paul Collins, Brian Woods andCian Moloney and more but the difference I see that seperates maybe thecurrent crop from the rest is that they played all their underage hurlingat A level. All the underage I would have played, and even later on, wouldhave been B. They wouldn’t really have the same awareness or regard fortradition we’d have had all along. Some of them boys grew up in the fieldover at Doonass too. The Donovan’s house has hurling on the father’s sidewith Kilmallock and the boy’s mother came from a hurling tradition inKildangan. We all know about the hurling that was in the Honan’s and theConlons are at the pitch pretty much every hour of the day. But as I oftensaid three or four players is great but it’s the next seven or eight thatmakes a team. I mean we always had a lot of great hurlers and great teamsat one era or another over in Clonlara but you need a stroke of luck Isuppose to tie them all in together”.

Mike admits when he was hurling there would have often been talk of the1919 team that won Clonlara’s first, and then only, Senior title and whenseeing the photo he’d be thinking ‘well this isn’t really for us’. “Ourmindset never extended beyond Intermediate hurling”, he says.

“Infact the first time I ever remember this fella”, says Mike elbowingJackie, - … “apart from seeing him hurling with Clare, was a Junior B gamein Shannon. He must have been at the ‘lets say’ - twilight - of his careerthen and I was thrown into goals in one of my first adult games. TheCratloe lads had to walk through our dressing room to get to theirs beforethe match . In skips Jackie with his boots in his hand and he stops up inthe middle of the floor and nods over to our elder lads. Jesus, he says,‘I thought I was too old for this until I saw ye”.

It’s only really when you compare their records up against their recentbreakthroughs that it seems Clonlara and Cratloe’s histories had moretroughs than peaks. With that 1919 triumph, Clon’ had a handsome fiveintermediate titles (1928, ’75, ’89, ’99 and 2007) to their name beforewinning the Canon in ’08. Cratloe have four Intermediates (1937, ’43, ’70and ’94) to go with last years win . Despite their geography they werenever able to play out much of their rivalry. Although co-incidentallytheir most successful sides hurled much the same eras as eachother, Jackienever remembers their paths crossing all that much. He first recalls beingbrought to see Cratloe and Clon’ have a rattle at eachother at Minorlevel in Kilkishen in the mid 50’s.

“ I used to love watching Tom McMahon and a fella called Noel McEvoy hurlon eachother that time. I was a child, and fair enough I hadnt seen toomany yet, but I remember thinking that these were the two greatest hurlersI had ever seen. There’d be an almighty battle between them. And y’knowthey both left for Australia not long after”.

“After that then I remember they played eachother, mostly in Kilkishenagain in the 60’s. They were fierce tough matches. That time we had thelikes of Joe Gorman and my brothers, Mick and Eddie and Packie Quinn, GerBentley and The Neills. Clonlara would have had the Crowes and they hadthis fella - ‘ Boxer Madden’ at full forward. There was a famous line inthe dressing room about the Boxer – that if a scuffle started be sure tokeep you hurley with you ‘coz otherwise The Boxer would have you lookingup at the sky”. And they had the McDonnells too. They were great hurlers.

Truthfully neither side has hurled towards Sunday having shown their fullhand this season. Both were actually relegated from the top flight in aClare Cup campaign that was largely sacrificed to Clare’s league exploits.Unwittingly it may have been the perfect time to refuel the club appetitesafter hurling well into the winter months last year. The championshipbrought no dramatic turnaround. Clon’ drew with St. Joseph’s beforeambling past Ballyea, Corofin and Crusheen. Cratloe were hardly inspiringagainst Inagh/Kilnamona. They were a mixed bag against both Sixmilebridgeand Wolfe Tones and got their comuppence when they faced Tubber. But theQuarter Finals showed that both sides seem to be turning the corner at theright time. September is the month to up the ante.

Mike and Jackie have been steeling themselves for the trick question. Who’lldo the business on Sunday? There’s the risk of giving something away here.Closed mouths catching no flies and all that. This is the sort ofhoodwinking that has been going on in school all week. You’d wonder willMike and his team will turn up at the right pitch at all? “It reminds meof the story of the salmon-poacher”, he laughs, “The river baliff walks upbehind him on the bank and when the poacher sees him he looks down intothe fish and says, ‘Jaysus, Would they bite you’? Let on nothing.

“Well seriously I suppose when you look at it in the last few years there’snever been more than a puck of the ball between the teams. It was nearlythe last puck of the ball that won the game for us in the Under 21s thisyear and it was the very same for ye’ in the Senior Final last year. Notto sound clichéd but I think the feeling in Clonlara would be that it’s apity it’s a semi final two South East Clare teams have to meet in. If wehad to pick a county champion apart from ourselves alot would be sayingCratloe over in Clonlara and I think that cuts both ways. But sure then nomore than playing anyone in a Semi-final it would be terrific to win onSunday. It’ll be everyman for himself but it wont be a lot that’llseparate them sides”.

Jackie sees Sunday along the same lines. “ It’s a replica of last yearsure. The two teams had a bad oul’ run in the Cup. Much of it wasn’t theirown fault, a lot of hurlers were busy with Clare commitments but theysnaked along in the championship then without showing any huge form andthey’re there again now. The two teams are very similar to last year, sowhy should it be any different? There’s no real feature where you’d sayone will have the advantage over the other. You couldn’t say that ifCratloe play like they did in the first round…..or if Clonlara play likethey played in the second round…..there’s no form so it’s all on the dayreally. It would take a wise man to call to it”.